Nazim Mehmet's Profile

From: Turkey
Joined: October 27, 2007
www.nazimmehmet.com

About nazimmehmet:

contact email: nazimmehmetartstudio@gmail.com

1979-1983 Azerbaijan State High School of Painting
1986-1992 BFA and MFA, Azerbaijan State Academy of Art

1997 Started to works as a Faculty Staff in Painting Department of Fine Arts Faculty of Erciyes University, Turkey

Nazim Mehmet has solo and group exhibitions in Azerbaijan, Turkey, Russia, USA, İtaly and Germany. Artist has many works in private collections in Azerbaijan, Turkey, Russia, Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, Israel, Italy, Litvania, Latonia, and Ukraine.

contact email: nazimmehmetartstudio@gmail.com


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Nazim Mehmet tames the Time

Some of art critics keep on determining Nazim Mehmet’s canvas-spaces as “metaphysical worlds”. Well, this denomination is completely true, but nevertheless I would like to make this term’s volume more deeply by means of determinations invented by my own. So, I called N. Mehmet’s painting as “meta-chemio-art”. I won’t be suspicious in a parody maker against some tradition formula offering to remind the primary meanings of those Greek words that became too much obvious. “Μετα-φΰσις” [meta-fizys] literally means “between-the-natures”. In other words, some things that are hidden inside of a structure’s main features. “Μετα-χΰμιος” [meta-khimyos] may be translated as “anything that is placed in a waves’ depth to determine all this waves’ characteristics”. Philosophers of antic Ellada used this idioma to emphasize the unexpected core of a subject to be discussed. Nazim Mehmet appears like a senses’ manifestator/creator in the field of his works. Furthermore, I dare invent my another improvised term: “Mehmétaphisic”. From my viewpoint, this centaurs-like word (I use to call such style as “muff-language”) should become a kind of visit-card of the artist’s unique vision which is decorated with his helpful efforts to any different genres persuading any of this to attach some inter-stylistic Esperanto.
Of course, we may espy some echo-allusions and paraphrases on Renaissance (especially German represented by Lukas Kranach, Albrecht Dǜrer and Grǘnewald) as well as on the genius Netherlander precursor of surrealism — Hieronymus Bosch. It seems that some of an infernal/providential personages from “The Garden Of Pleasures” must fly into canvas of German Romantism artists (later 18th — early 19th century). Nevertheless, Nazim Mehmet prepared his own version of “time machine” that is immersed in his colors’ stream-souls. Thus, a spectator takes a rare possibility of a fan-like survey upon various stages of the painting’s development from 15th to 20th centuries. Thanks to the painter, we can live on a page of proto-Renaissance calendar by Limburg Brothers (frontier of 14th – 15th centuries) and in the same time we may in details observe any works of the 20th century surrealists (S. Dali, G. de Chirico, Max Ernst, Ives Tangy, Paul Eluard). N. Mehmet’s “Art-beyond-conducting” gives us a possibility to be the witnesses of pyramids’ building in Chychen-Itsa, before-Columbus Yukatan, in the 8th century — and simultaneously see: how A. Gaudi’s cathedral of Sagrada Familia are building up in Barcelona in the beginning of the 20th century. Let me use again my muff-language alchemy! Then I’ll declare the two charming/leading facets of Nazim Mehmet’s creating. Hybridizing Turkish “hafiza” (“memory”) and “art” we result “Khafizart”. The second notion has given birth to Turkish “işaret” (“sign”) + “retro” = “Işarétro”. I hope these newborn neologisms could introduce anybody who interest in seriously to dive in Nazim’s puzzled skill…
The specific artist’s manner turns his painting to an untranslatable apokryphes, ancient and/or contemporary. Just now Nazim recovers a channeling phenomenon’s carrier in himself. His colors take a possibility of self-resounding that helps him to recall any information immediately from noosphera. One of more frankest patterns is “Message” (“Haber”) where an angel is sliding/hurrying along the greeny-lilac-violet sky to bring some secret welfare all-planetary news… but maybe it will be another “least” warning for all humanity that does not still want to grow up!.. There’s the tree in this composition that penetrates the burning deserts’ ground like a bayonet. So, this self-damned endless Earth hopes on its infinityless,,, As near as I can guess, Nazim could not predict one almost fantastic fact: he wrote a verse in ancient Khurritian wedge-like writingness through the tree’s top. My translation version: “If you won’t reproach a clouds with an inability of sharing with thunderstorm — you can ask the sunny blind blue sky: please, fall your savior-like rains on me!”. What a splendid whimsical apocryph! We may find here (as in other Nazim’s works) the features of Eastern tales as deep as Northern sagas. It’s necessary to note: the painter is living in Kappadokia where Khurrites Kingdom existed more than three thousand years ago. It’s a living native place of Nazim’s concepts. What a fractal vision of inner & external all-planetarian mankind’s messages! That’s the core of Nazim’s undercover ability to tame the obstinate Time.
Generally, trees in Nazim’s compositions are always something much more than just a plants that “paint in green” some desert-like corners of canvases. These trees look like an envoys of Arbor Mundi — the World Tree which is one of central images in majority of national mythologies of the world. So, I should be brave to draw a conclusion: it’s necessary to be able to talk with trunk in roots’ language for the right interpreting of a tree crone’s web. That’s the point of the artist’s polyglossy outbreaking.
Humans and angels walking with a torches in their hands — it’s one of favorite themes in Nazim’s pictures. Both creatures look like in hope to find an understanding between the ground and Heaven with a help of intercrossing flames. But maybe they wish to know exactly: are an angels really humans’ patrons or perhaps on the contrary? Anyway, angels and humans finally discover in this searching the common air to breathe in together. Perhaps, both keep on establishing a new light rays-paths for each other, but they were obliged to cover their light until Nazim took them cognition: you shouldn’t be afraid of anything when dressed in my canvases’ diving-suite because of possibility to live in — not to exist! According to Nazim’s respecting Paul Eluard, “to live means to share any life-paths with somebody”.
Nazim Mehmet’s staircases are something more than just a prides of stairs. It is not only the ways to the Universal All-languages Temples but also the translators from everyday speaking to sacral inscriptions. And those who would win all these entire organ’s key-like stairs, will attach the mastership of conversation with Past and Future. And these Temples’ priests are the wise keepers of human gutting rainbow-like desires. Nazim gently makes them speak aloud and finds the keys to open invisible doors — maybe, that’s why the painter uses to draw keys suspended in compositions’ space?..
Nazim’s canvas are frequently like an icons of some unknown religion. His painting is full of twilight (partly, it associated with Edvard Munch’s painting background). Let’s remind that this day-night frontier was considered to be the most suitable eristic time to communicate with gods and spirits of ancestors since antiquity. Twilight (“time which is between dog and wolf”, according to French idioma) is named as “hours of creative discoveries and enlightens” by many artists, poets and scientists nowadays. Nazim’s landscapes appears to be unchangeable illustrations for a guidebook on twilight zones of sub-consciousness and, moreover, along the beyond-realizing. I’d try to determine through this my neologism an ability of symbols/signs to prolong self-development independently aside from parental mind/imagination. The painter is actually working on the middles of different mental galaxies’ interactions. His pictures’ saying: “Don’t hurry to run from each other if you did not catch understanding at the first time! You maybe never meet again,,,”.
It’s not accidentally that Nazim grew up among the people of many different nationalities in the city of Baku (this toponyme may be translated as “fortress pierced with winds”), capital of Azerbaijan. He says: “I feel comfortably in mosquito, church, synagogue, datsan ‘cos I trust in the Single God who speaks with any ethnos in its native language”. So, another new concept-term in muff-lingua has came to me now: “Azerbaijungle”. It may mean: “Jungle of art fantasies creating by the painter who was burned in Azerbaijan”. Well, Nazim is a wonderful art-pantheist. He helps to artists of various directions, civilizations and epochs to keep on understanding without of translator. We can clearly see how René G. Magritte is climbing up a stairway constructed by Maurits C. Escher and enters into the gallery-castle built by Nazim Mehmet. Giotto and William Blake, Peter Bruegel and Utamaro, Kaspar D. Friedrich and Dionysius, Persian medieval miniaturists and European 19th century pre-Raphaelites — all they are jointly and with a great interest walking along Nazim’s gallery halls and interchanging with their art trials.
In Nazim’s book/theatre-like canvas the poetry texts are an actors who give equal rights to old and new matters. Polish philosopher Lüdwig Flaschen noted: “Book is being of arrival & departure getting on simultaneously”. Concepts of Nazim’s pictures do like this: they are slipping away getting the purpose to remain in; they are remaining for persistent slipping away. In these fields, Renaissance interlaced with conceptualism. It leads to bifurcation of non-stop connection between of any epochs’ basic ideas. All of them are entirely penetrating with Dream, Love, Sorrow, Eternity and Pondering. These items are the spiritual bindings of human suffering, happiness and searching that are going through every millennium.
Nazim Mehmet succeeded in many-miles polystylistic evolution too much far from classical meaning of surrealism. It should be pertinently to recall some meanings of French word “sur”. Firstly, it means an influence of one thing upon another. Secondly, it may describe an insertion of any matter from relatives. Thirdly, it means “sour”. And finally, it may be translated as “safe” or “trustworthy”. As I can feel, the painter ingeniously intertwines his canvases with inter-transforming of all these meanings.
Wishing of maximal exhaustive diagnostic for the subjects investigated here makes me resort to muff-lingua. Let me say: Nazim composes of sanatoms (“sanat” in Turkish means “art” + “atom”) obtained by himself an admirable resimphonies (“resim” is the Turkish for “picture” + “symphony”) that nobody has heard before,,,
It seems extremely adequate and consonant to call Nazim Mehmet as “tyǖr-realist”. I invented this term getting from old Norwegian rune “Tÿr” [tyuir] — “The Judgment of Lord” and/or “The Path-Leading Star”. Don’t forget that “runa” means “mystery” in Gotten. And when this rune was pronounced as “Taywas” it meant “The Warrior’s Guard”. In adding, Turkey (Türkiye Cumhuriyeti) is the country where Nazim is living & working today. Let’s pay an attention to another enigmatic fact. If we’ll divide English toponyme “Turkey” in two halves, it will appear that the first syllable takes a distinct pronounce similarity with “Tÿr” rune. And the second one suddenly will “realize” itself as “key” word! As near as I may assume, this phenomenon is certainly not from out of the blue,,,
Thus, I’m sure that creativeness and personality of Nazim Mehmet include all the levels described above and in the same time saturate it with his unique dimensions.

Willi R. Melnikov – many-languages-poet, doctor, mathematician, photopainter, art-essayist.
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Metaphysical worlds

Nazım Mehmet who has an academic art education always mentions his admiration to Renaissance Art. However, it was Paul Eluard’s poems he was fascinated by and became the main source for his paintings. Paul Eluard was one of the announcers of Surrealist manifest. Being affected by the surrealist artists such as De Chrico, Dali and Matta, Mehmet adopts the surrealist principle of scrutinizing and leaving free the creative subconscious. Intensifying his work around this principle, artist takes the subconscious dream images and makes them to exist isochronally as they are in a dream letting them to spread on the surface without any judgment.
Mehmet has a fantastic style which he presents unrelated objects in an aura. It is not predictable to see impossible objects in his paintings as we see in the paintings of Dali. On the contrary, he chooses objects from daily life that we are familiar with but a relationship can not be interpreted between them. Such as a lobster, a key, a pomegranate, a sword, a pigeon or a sundial are being presented as they are creatures of a fantastic world. What we see in his paintings is daily objects are described in a manner that they reflect such a reality that does not belong to this world.
In the works of Mehmet whose aim is to present a world which is surrealist, dreamlike and out of mind, human figures give the sense of being belonged to this world at first sight. However, we realize that they are related to another world when we see the figures raising from the ground with shining aureoles over their head. We can never see faces of human figures; either their faces are hidden behind a cover or their back is turned us. This is another aspect increasing the mystery and intensifying the sense of them being belonged to another world. Time to time, these figures appear to be winged angels surrounded by a spiritual light.
Book, birds and sundial are the common objects Mehmet uses almost in all works. Book is the symbol for wisdom as well as justice; birds are the symbols of freedom; sundial indicates the life time passing by. It is observed, artist mostly spreads the objects over the rocks in a surrealist surroundings. Rocks and stones are the important issues in his works. According to him “stones and rocks have their own stories and experiences with in themselves. They are witnesses to the places where they sit and they are embedded with the memory of that place and layered with its history”.
Silence dominates the world of Mehmet. Neither pain nor happiness is not the part of his world. Everything is like flowing in a silent eternity, and in that sense pectoral meaning of silence indicates metaphysical meaning. The gates suddenly appearing in the middle of the painting becomes evident as the passageway to a different metaphysical world and to the other dimensions.
Mehmet opens out the doors towards the new creativities peculiar to his style with the surrealist world he creates in his paintings.


Nurdan KARASU GÖKÇE /artist/